Alexander, what in God’s name is going on? I got six different calls this morning claiming you were walking again. The hospital is flooded with people begging for information about some miracle healer. And that crowd outside… She shuddered.
I’ve never seen anything like it. Patricia, I need you to examine me, Alexander said urgently. Something impossible happened last night, and I need to know if it’s real or if I’m losing my mind.
Dr. Winters set down her bag and looked at him with the careful expression she used when she thought a patient might be having a psychological breakdown. Alexander, we’ve discussed this before. Your spinal cord was completely severed in the accident.
The damage is permanent and irreversible. There is no medical procedure, no treatment, no miracle that could… Touch my knee, Alexander interrupted. What? Please, just touch my left knee and tell me what you feel.
Dr. Winters hesitated, then knelt beside his wheelchair and placed her hand on his knee. Alexander, I don’t understand what you’re… She stopped mid-sentence, her eyes going wide. Did you just… You felt it too, Alexander said, his voice barely a whisper.
My leg moved. I made it move. Dr. Winters jerked her hand back as if she’d been burned.
That’s impossible. I must have imagined it. There’s no way you could have voluntary movement after 20 years of complete paralysis.
But even as she said it, Alexander could see the doubt in her eyes. The scientific certainty that had defined her career was cracking, and they both knew it. There’s more, Alexander said.
He reached down and pinched his left thigh hard enough that it should have left a mark. I can feel that. I can feel everything from my hip down to my ankle.
Dr. Winters grabbed a reflex hammer from her bag with shaking hands. This is impossible, she muttered, but let me test your reflexes. She tapped his knee with the hammer, and his leg jerked in response.
A normal, healthy reflex that shouldn’t have existed in a man with a severed spinal cord. The hammer fell from her hands and clattered to the floor. How is this possible, she whispered.
A little girl, Alexander said, six years old. She touched my legs, and something changed. I know how it sounds, but… Alexander listened to me very carefully.
Dr. Winters interrupted, her voice urgent. If what you’re saying is true, if you really are regaining sensation and movement, then we need to get you to the hospital immediately. We need to run every test we have, document everything, figure out what’s happening to your nervous system.
I can’t leave, Alexander said, glancing toward the crowd outside. She’s coming back tonight, the little girl, and with all these people looking for her. You mean the child who supposedly healed you is coming back here? Tonight? Dr. Winters looked horrified…
